Ever since I left the Company that Shall Not be Named back in July of 2000 I’ve been failing to do something: set up my own proprietorship. Since 1996 until I left I was what they call a permatemp.
Initially I really didn’t have any problem with this. But as I moved from position to position, until the company invented rules to prevent that, it was me who did all the work of finding new positions in the company. My temp agency didn’t do much to find me a new assignment whenever my old assignment expired. That and they cut themselves a major percentage on top of my wages. I was doing the all work of finding work while they, considering their fee, seemed to be doing nothing. So I decided that once I left the Company that Shall Not be Named I would become an independent, a sole proprietor of my own labor.
This would be a big step for me because I am terrible when it comes to personal finance, bookkeeping and paperwork. And sure enough, for the last two tax years, I totally slacked off on the paperwork, never getting my local license, my EIN and the small army of forms that I’d need to make myself a legal proprietorship–all the while being paid for my various computer jobs that I was doing for other small companies during the dot com crash. My friends were full of advice on how to get started on this, but a lot of it was just too overwhelming for me, considering my fear of money matters. And now as I file for an extension of my 2002 income tax, the chickens of sloppy bookkeeping have come home to roost. I don’t want an audit for my crimes of negligence. I am cruising for a bruising.
So, today, I have to resolved to get this sorted out once and for all.